Senior center gets a boost

Barbara Diamond Coastline Pilot

A $750,000 donation by the sons of the late Elizabeth Howe Quilter

has pushed the construction fund for a new senior center over the

half-way mark.

The center, to be built on Third Street, will be called the “Susi

Q,” the nom de plume used by Mrs. Quilter on her bi-weekly column for

the Coastline News, predecessor of the Coastline Pilot. Construction

is expected to begin on the senior and adjoining community center no

later than September of 2006.

“Mom loved writing the ‘Diary of Susi Q’ and she loved Laguna

Beach,” said Christopher Quilter, speaking for his brothers, Charles

II, Patrick and Matthew. “She had the good fortune to buy an Emerald

Bay beach house in the 1960s. As my brother Charlie likes to say, it

is ‘meet and just’ that we give something back to the town Mom loved.

“An Elizabeth Howe Quilter Senior Center would have been much too

formal for Mom. She did not have an ‘edifice’ complex. But the Susi Q

Senior Center? We think she would have been tickled.”

The donation was announced at a reception hosted Monday by Laguna

Beach Seniors Inc. at Tivoli Terrace, at which design plans for the

centers were unveiled.

“We have been working toward this for five years and it’s finally

becoming a reality,” said Seniors President Pauline Walpin.

More than half the 110 guests at the reception rose to their feet

when early donors and supporters of the center were asked to stand.

“It goes without saying that we are having a lovefest here today,”

said Louise Buckley, a past president of the Seniors. Plans for the

center include a lounge with a fireplace; a library; a multipurpose

room -- where weekday luncheons will be served from an adjacent

kitchen -- a card room; a wellness center and nurse’s examination

room; a computer classroom; a Meals on Wheels office; staff offices

and a meeting room.

The seniors will share with the community center a primary

entryway, staffed reception desk, workroom and bathrooms, for which

the city has allocated funds.

Two dance studios, three meeting rooms, office space and a

multipurpose room for arts, crafts and other activities will be

housed in the community center.

LSA designed the centers. Griffen Structures will manage the

project, which still must go through the city’s review process for

use and design.

“A lot of attention has been given to the building of the new

senior center, but not very many people are aware of our efforts for

the community center,” City Manager Ken Frank said. “Our kids will be

able to take advantage of more classes -- and more often.”

Recreation Department classes are held now in a room at the back

of Community Services building, Lang Park and at Legion Hall, which

the seniors share.

The city will fund all parking under the two centers, which will

be available to the public at night and on weekends.

“As of today, the seniors have raised more than half of the monies

needed for the building,” Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider said at

Monday’s reception.

The goal is to raise a total of $5.2 million to cover

construction, furnishings and an endowment fund.

“Our immediate need is for cash,” Pearson-Schneider said.

Donations are sought from $1,000 for a plaque on the donors’ wall

to $250,000 for a kitchen to be named by the donor.

“We expect to raise $350,000 from the donors’ wall, and we expect

grants of $100,000,” said Pearson-Schneider, who has bequeathed

$400,000 to fund the multipurpose room that will be named for her two

grandmothers.

Proceeds from the “Lagunatics 2005: Senior Prom,” to be presented

by the nonprofit No Square Theatre, will benefit the senior center.

Pearson-Schneider, who led the senior’s capital campaign from the

beginning, turned over the reins Monday to Chris Quilter and his

sister-in-law, Charles’ wife, Ann, who will chair Project Senior

Center to complete fund-raising for construction, furnishings and an

endowment for maintenance.

“The endowment is critical because it is what will keep the center

running,” Ann Quilter said.

Susi Q continued to write her column even as ill-health confined

“Liz” Quilter to her home in gated Emerald Bay, which she called the

“Golden Ghetto.”

“Growing old happens if we’re lucky. A senior center can help make

friends with time,” Chris Quilter said.

For more information about the center and donations, call (949)

494-2441.